I bought one of the Q9550's NCIX had on surprise special...I didn't want to go with the I7 right now, probably next upgrade in a few years, when they'll become mainstream...The Q9550 beats the PhenomII X4 940 and OC good, so at that price, I'm glad I stayed on Intel's side...but I was eyeing those 720BE...

But I'm glad I ordered one of the 50 available Q9550s on surprise special sale!!!

K but if you have the choice now to go X58 and be done with for a long while cause if you go 775 there are no new 775 CPU's coming out so you can't upgrade further. With X58 it will be supported for at least 2 years. Plus no one else is still thinking about the possibilities of either having SLI or Crossfire on the SAME board so you don't need to spend more money if you want to go SLI. Look if you have the choice then you should go X58. Yeah you guys keep saying that you can overclock a Q9550 but you can also overclock a i7 a hell of a lot more. Why would someone buy into the dying socket 775? Also if you plan on going multi GPU i7 is king at that.

Look I have gone from a Q9550 to i7 920 and will never look back. If you plan on keeping your CPU and mobo for a long time then it is wise to go with a i7 setup because it has more cores/threads it can use, more performance, overclocks better, future support, something new to have fun with. You guys seriously don't know what you are missing. Not to mention having the ability to choose SLI or Crossfire. Lets say Nvidia or ATI's next GPU doubles the other guys GPU in performance? Then you are stuck with just one choice or buy a new mobo. I can not stress enough the joy of that liberty. Spend that bit extra if you can. Don't hold back because some people that don't even have used both CPU's told it isn't worth it. You already said you plan a multi GPU setup then you should look at the future.

I just want to say it again. If you have the choice to choose i7 920 or Q9550 then I would go 920 all the way.

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Qoute by Perineum
"ID10T. I just BETCHA he's got 9 toolbars on his web browser right now."

Yeah you guys keep saying that you can overclock a Q9550 but you can also overclock a i7 a hell of a lot more

Most i7 920s dont go above 3.8-4ghz on air where as the Q9550s have been seen up to 4.2ghz on air and higher under water with less heat then an i7.... so no they do not overclock a hell of alot higher, the reason some of us stick with dieing chipsets is because there is still lots of potential in that chipset still and as new ones come out the older stuff is much cheaper for people who are on a budget, i7 is still young and for the most part x58 and DDR3 is overprised still and some people like to wait untill those prices level off. The Q9550 is still a GREAT CPU and will be for some time, they over clock well, have tons of cache and run cool. Im glad your happy with your purchase of an x58 chipset but dont trash talk a good chipset or someones choice of going with it, plus 98% of PC users will never go multi GPU and would instead go with something like a GTX295 if they where to go multi GPU so although the dual standard offered by x58 is nice its not a #1 reason to go with an i7.

If your looking for a great bang for your buck a P5Q Pro motherboard for $140 and a Q9550 for $300-$350 and a cheap set of $50 DDR2 ram moduals will perform VERY well for atleast the next year or 2... and if you already have a LGA775 motherboard laying around then your already 1 step closer to that. If i7 is within $100 or less then ya its worth it to go the next level, but when you need to spend 2-300 more then the price vs performance is lost, besides that x58 is not garenteed to last 2 years, it will last untill the first quarter of next year but beyond that who knows, theres no way to tell if its the way of the future or not. If your out to spend as much as possible for every last FPS then i7 is for you, if you are looking for the best bang for you buck and know that your going to have to upgrade in a couple years anyways then LGA775 fits the bill perfectly, you wont be kicking yourself in the rear 6 months down the road when x58 motherboards are down to $150 and DDR3 drops to $60 per set.

see I posted many times that if you can afford it then go i7. Also I still back my statement because 920 starts off at 2.66 and can easily go to 4ghz and beyond on air. Some have it at around 4.5 on water. So 920 CAN overclock a hell of a lot higher because q9550 starts at almost 3ghz.

By all means if you are tight on money then stay with your current board.

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Qoute by Perineum
"ID10T. I just BETCHA he's got 9 toolbars on his web browser right now."

I had an i7 setup & sold it awhile ago. I've been using junk ever since & I do miss it but am trying to get set up with a Q9550 setup right now. There will be absolutely no difference between the 2 for the tasks I use it for. none. I'd say save some money & go with the Quad so as to save a few bucks for something else. Water cooling maybe?

K but if you have the choice now to go X58 and be done with for a long while cause if you go 775 there are no new 775 CPU's coming out so you can't upgrade further. With X58 it will be supported for at least 2 years. Plus no one else is still thinking about the possibilities of either having SLI or Crossfire on the SAME board so you don't need to spend more money if you want to go SLI. Look if you have the choice then you should go X58. Yeah you guys keep saying that you can overclock a Q9550 but you can also overclock a i7 a hell of a lot more. Why would someone buy into the dying socket 775? Also if you plan on going multi GPU i7 is king at that.

Look I have gone from a Q9550 to i7 920 and will never look back. If you plan on keeping your CPU and mobo for a long time then it is wise to go with a i7 setup because it has more cores/threads it can use, more performance, overclocks better, future support, something new to have fun with. You guys seriously don't know what you are missing. Not to mention having the ability to choose SLI or Crossfire. Lets say Nvidia or ATI's next GPU doubles the other guys GPU in performance? Then you are stuck with just one choice or buy a new mobo. I can not stress enough the joy of that liberty. Spend that bit extra if you can. Don't hold back because some people that don't even have used both CPU's told it isn't worth it. You already said you plan a multi GPU setup then you should look at the future.

I just want to say it again. If you have the choice to choose i7 920 or Q9550 then I would go 920 all the way.

^ +1....Belgolas point is that "if you can afford to upgrade...do it".......obviously if yuo're on a tight budget you have to look at alternatives.

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Introducing me n my OCD to Watercooling, is like taking an Alcoholic to an "all you can drink" Beach Bar in Mexico